We had a new idea that we are very excited about! Self-timers on cameras are a huge pain. Balancing iPhones on your bookshelf, running over to your group, waiting awkwardly for 30 seconds because you have a poor conception of time… Rough.

We think it’d be cool to have a camera mount that can pivot and tilt to match your location. On top of that, voice commands will tell it when to take pictures and control fine adjustments. Meet the new Nibl.

Our sensing scheme is more or less the same as the old idea. Now, instead of actuating a shooting mechanism, we’ll have to capture an image, do some very basic computer-vision to identify the target, and send it to phones over wireless.

Baseline Goals:

• Activate on command “hit me”
• Identify target with a visual cue
• Save photo to local memory

Reach Goals:

• Display photos on phone screen
• Multiple voice commands for controlling movement
• Live tracking of the visual cue

Right now, we have basic infrared tracking going. The range is limited, so we’ll have to switch to using the camera sensor to identify the target. Unfortunately, our camera only works intermittently, so we’ll have to iron that out. Another big issue is mysterious noise in our mic signal, despite steady power lines. The noise arises when using battery power, or using PWM, so we’ll need to work to eliminate that in hardware. Luckily, our voice recognition program is very generalizable, and we’re optimistic about implementing new commands.